Couldn't find the exact guide I wanted, so I filled in the blanks and wrote my own. The goal here is to be lazy. e.g. Don't train any other skill than carpentry 2 with TV/video. Don't forge a damned thing or even build a forge before the advanced forge. Don't even touch the foraging skill. Just find crap in warehouses, factories, schools and that you the player can see on the ground to get to the big fancy metalworking work stations in weeks rather than months. If you're lazy and just want to skip to the general process, see the last section, "The Workstation Process."

Quick Preliminary FAQ to Address Frequently Observed Frustrations

* Why can't I find this bleeping-bleep recipe?!

Potentially one of three reasons, question-asker. First, most of the right-click context menus no longer exist. I expect them to come back over time but that's a lot of work post-massive-rearrangement of all things crafting-related so probably the thing of late-stage B42 QoL improvements. Second, Crafting is now Crafting and "Building" (see new icon on left side menu). If making the thing also deposits it in the environment, it's "Building." And finally, possibly because 90% of recipes now require a work station and you can only see those by having a workstation and right-clicking it. This is currently the most opaque thing about the new crafting. Fortunately, for now at least, most non-end-game crafting stations are butt-easy to make.

* Why can't I craft this simple bleeping-bleep thing?!

LOOK at the recipe. Upper right. What's red? Probably the work surface icon, that's what. Find an elevated flat surface or large rock to stand next to and try again.

* Why can't I find these bleeping-bleep super common tools?!

Shh... Child shh... How have you been playing this game for a hundred+ hours and don't know to go straight to the nearest warehouse the second you have the means to get to one? Most tools (OTHER THAN !@#$ING SLEDGEHAMMERS) aren't that rare, but it's going to take forever looting house to house/randomly now that we need dozens more tools to do all of the available things. Or you can find all or almost all of them in one warehouse trip. For this guide, the only tool I (surprisingly) didn't find at my first warehouse was the masonry trowel. Tools and most mats? Warehouse. Specifically metal-related stuff? Factory. Easy peasiest warehouse in the game right now is (surprisingly) the one near LV checkpoint. Also, Ruby Gas is a great starting base for now. Almost no zeds there either.

* But why can't I just <Insert Mat/Tool Here> instead?

You might be able to actually. Look for the right/left arrow icons for recipe dependencies and click them to see alternatives.

Things You Might Get Lucky and Find Early

These things are rare enough that it's worth assuming you just won't find them in the time it takes to simply make your own, but they're worth keeping an eye out for as they could save some effort. If you happen to find all of them, you can skip all the workstations and all you really need is some clay, sand, and rocks.

* Blacksmith Anvil - This is the primary effort item and a Christmas miracle if you find it, so more something to keep an eye out for than actively search for. Typically found on top of crates in farm sheds/barns. I've seen claims you can find it in warehouses but I've only ever found bench anvils which appear to currently be useless. If you find a Blacksmith Anvil, it's pretty much leather for the bellows and the rest is pathetically easy, skipping all of the pottery, clay, and mold-making stuff.

* Large Bellows - These aren't insanely hard to make but apparently can be found (warehouses? I forget where people claimed). You'll need two to skip the leather stuff.

* Wooden Bucket - The small iron band needed for these can be a minor nuisance to find. These can be found apparently in farm locations and industrial areas per comments.

Skills Needed

* Carpentry 3 - yes, that's it. Watch some TV or take advantage of the now dirt-cheap awesomely upgraded carpentry occupation.

* Blacksmith or Blacksmith Knowledge - I assume you can master metalwork without either (the "blacksmith knowledge" description suggests otherwise) but you'll likely want a boost to metalworking if you're focused on it. The trait is a MUCH better deal as they're essentially the same thing with just a +2 difference in metalworking. Once again, the devs way overestimate the value of point differences in the 1-4 range. It takes very little time to level the craft skills to 4.

Tools Needed

*Factories vs Warehouses - Lots of confusion over these. Both tend to have lots of wood crates. Factories also have conveyer belts and equipment like robot arms, etc. Huge difference in loot. Warehouses are general tools/farming. Factories are way more metal-centric.

*General Tool Places = warehouses, hardware stores, trucks and vans, garages, sheds, basements, closets

*General Farm Places = barns, ag stores, farming/floral trucks, warehouses, kitchens

* Van or Truck - Nothing lazy about making multiple trips on foot
* Masonry Trowel - masonry/construction trucks/vans, General Tool Places
* Masonry Chisel - see above
* Knife You Can Carve With - You got this
* A Rock - You can player-forage these on the ground on the side of the road. Just look for visible rocks in the ground, right-click and "remove stone." Not limestone or "large stone." Just "stone." You ultimately need a metric butt-ton of rocks, but do not gather more rocks in this manner as it is super-unnecessary. Explanation under "Mats Needed."
* Tongs - On the ground in front of like half the fireplaces in the game (you're welcome), General Tool/Factory Places
* Axe/hatchet/stone axe - All occupations start with the primitive axe recipe. Forage for a branch, sharp piece of flint, and rip clothing for a rag to make one if you can't find a hatchet or axe at a general tool place
* Fleshing Tool - Easy warehouse find now, but also found in meat-related places, apparently
* Hammer + Saw - You Got This, General Tool Places if you don't
* Hacksaw - General Tool/Factory Places
* Any Digging Tool - General Tool/Farming Places
* Bowl - Kitchens, or since you'll likely have clay to burn and a kiln anyway, just DIY one on a pottery wheel and drop it in your kiln
* A Rope - General Tool/Farm Places

Mats Needed

* Clay - Grade schools now have bags of clay (8 clay each) on metal shelving in closets. I found 4 bags at West Point's big school recently. If you need to forage for it, gravel surfaces in the rain have been best for me. I have never found clay, not once, near a body of water, but people suggest that. It is a member of the stone category so regular roads should be good too.
* Stones - You need a lot of rocks. So find one. Now find a big rock the same way you found the little rock. Now find a boulder or any other work surface and smash the big rock into 10 little rocks with the knapping recipe. This is vastly superior to not noticing the knapping or masonry chisel recipes and finding 40 rocks the hard way for the first rock req.
* Sand - Warehouses, on the ground in some places (looks like a lighter shade of gravel - gather with shovel and a sack) but just grab some at the warehouse you found almost everything else you needed at. Seriously, don't go house to house before you've hit a warehouse. That's not lazy.
* Logs - You got this
* Long Sticks - Warehouses or cut saplings from small trees and carve them into long sticks.
* 2 Pigs/Sheep you haven't developed a deep emotional attachment to - To find either, look for barns with small pens in fields. You can pick up some breeds of ewe but the rest require attaching a rope to, to get them to a butcher's hook you've made nearby.
* Iron/Steel Half Bars - 16 of either (you can cut whole bars into half bars with a hacksaw). You can mix and match. Very easy find in factories but may also find in warehouses. Taking apart car wrecks is another source.
* Small/Medium Handles - Carve from planks sawed from logs
* (Small - can easily be made from large) Iron Metal Band - General Tool/Factory Places, but these are on the rare side. If you have poor luck with these, try disassembling car wrecks. I believe you can also build from a primitive forge but I haven't had to do that yet.

The Workstation Process

Currently workstations have no skill requirements and are largely very low effort at the lower tiers. This will likely change, so expect surprises if it's been a few patches since 42.2.0

1. Hand Operated Press (Pottery) - Easy to build. Make yourself a wooden mold for an anvil and use this to make a clay blacksmith anvil mold.

2. Advanced or (Primitive?) Kiln (Pottery) - I'm pretty confident this also works with the Primitive Kiln but at this time they have the same mat requirements so might as well skip ahead to the fancy one. With this, we output the ceramic blacksmith anvil mold.

3. Charcoal Burning Pile (Metalworking) - Requires a shovel and not-grass tiles. Turn logs into charcoal as-needed for next step.

4. Simple Furnace (Metalworking) - This is the first large quantity of rocks requirement. Chisel into stone bricks and use clay/water/sand for clay cement to build this. Finally. Turn 16 steel and/or iron half bars into that freaking anvil with your ceramic anvil mold. DO NOT build a simple forge. There's no need to burn an anvil on that. You're not at all far away from advanced. NOTE: You could likely wait until you have bellows and save this step for advanced furnace at the very end, skipping the simple furnace altogether. Not changing this yet because I haven't tested it but one less work station to build is definitely lazier.

5. Butcher's Hook (Farming) - Find pigs/sheep. Build a hook on the spot. Walk them over to it with a rope, kill and butcher away. You can ignore blood. Get the leather and the head to slice up for brains. Yes, you need brraaiiinnnsss.

6. Softening Beam (Farming) - Deflesh the leather.

7. Tanning Bucket (Farming) - Craft a "Bowl of Brain Tan" with that brain and tan the leather.

8. Medium Leather Drying Rack - Dry that leather and you can make large bellows. The only other new thing to make for the advanced forge is a wooden bucket. You now have the player knowledge and means to produce everything you need to build an advanced forge and furnace anywhere you want.